Shuttle for game of badminton



Oct. 22, 1940. A. E. USHAKOFF v SHUTTLE FOR GAME OF BADMINTON Filed oct. 18, 1938 Patented Get. 22, 194Q I i I UNITED STATE S PATENT OFFICE SHUTTLE FOR GAlWE OF BADDHNTON Alexis E. Ushakoif, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 18, 1938, Serial No. 235,614

' 1 Claims. (01. 273-106) This invention relates to shuttles or birds The illustrated shuttle of this invention is proused in the game of badminton, such shuttles vided with a vane consisting of a thin seamless commonly comprising a head having attached generally conical member of homogeneous colthereto a feathered flight-controlling. vane and loidal material provided in the larger end with 5 being adapted to be driven through the air by flight-controlling holes of substantialaggregate means of a blow or stroke of a racquet with which area, as hereinafter more fully set forth. Ihe the head of the oncoming shuttle is struck. unbroken conical surface of a featherless vane,

The general object of the present invention is as heretofore proposed, offers insufiicient re- ,to provideafeatherless shuttle which is not only sistance to the passage of air over it to acequal but superior to the feathered shuttle in .complish these ends. Ihave discovered, however, 10

flight characteristics and is stronger, more that the holes ofier a considerable resistance to v durable and less expensive than the feathered the flow of air through them and cause a turbushuttle. lence. They thus induce a drag which limits The vanes of shuttles now on the market and the distance and controls the trajectory of the in use consist of a handmade assembly of goose flight of the shuttle; and at the same time, being 15 feathers which of themselves are unlike; and the located near the larger end of the vane where flight characteristics of shuttles having such the amplitude of oscillation is greatest, are very vanes are non-uniform and not wholly satiseffective in absorbing quickly the oscillatory factory. These shuttles, moreover, are comparaenergy of the shuttle whether the shuttle is struck tively expensive and are easily broken;particua light or a heavy blow and in maintaining its 20 larly when theyare not kept somewhat moist or flight directionally stable. humidified. Shuttles provided with featherless Referring now to the accompanying drawing vanes have been proposed in United States Patents which illustrates the preferred embodiments of Nos. 1,620,922 and 1,924,259; but these shuttles my invention:

have not, so far as I am aware, been successful Fig. 1 is a perspective of a shuttle in which the 25 or even at all acceptable, due to the fact thatpresent invention is embodied, the vane of the the vanes apparently have been designed in an shuttle being provided with large holes, part of efiort to simulate the general shape and appearthe lower or head end of the shuttle being shown ance of feathered vanes without an appreciation in section;

or application of the factors which govern the Fig, 2 is a perspective of a shuttle having 30 flight ofshuttles. smaller holes in its vane;

In the game of badminton the shuttle is driven Fig. 3 is an elevation of a portion of a shuttle back and forth-from one player to another by the head of which carries a perforated rubber striking the head of the shuttle with a racquet; cover; f

and every time the shuttle is struck its direction Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing a '35 of flight is reversed .or at least greatly changed. cover made of sponge rubber;

When the direction Of flight of the shuttle iS Fig, 5 is a, section of a frusto-conical mold thus changed its initial tendency is to wobble or that may be used in making the shuttle, there oscillate; and one of the main functions of the being shown -a shuttle head on the top of the 40 vane is to damp these oscillations so as to cause mold and a blank of shrinkable colloidal material 40 them to disappearthat is to cause the energy in place over the head and mold; of oscillation to be absorbed-and to dothis as Fig. 6 is a section similar toFig. 5 after the quickly as possible so that the shuttle may asblank has. shrunk about the head and mold and sume astable directional flight. Another function the surplus has been trimmed off; I

of the vane is to control the distance of the I Fig. 7isa section on an enlarged scale through flight of the shuttle, that is to ensure that the a portion of the vane II on the line VII VII of shuttle shall not fly too far when it is struck a Fig. 1 showing a structure by which the edges blow of maximum force. The vane should thereof the holes and the upper edge of the vane fore be so constructed (1)' that the drag exerted maybe strengthened; and

by it will limit the extent of the'fiight of the Fig. 8 is a section also on an enlarged scale 5 shuttle to a certain distance even when it is through a portion of a vane and a hole, showing struck a hard blowand (2) that, whether it is asomewhat different structure by which the edges struck a hard blow or a light one, the oscillatory of the holes may be strengthened. energy imparted to it by suddenly changing the The illustrated shuttle of Fig. 1 comprises a direction of flight shallbe quickly absorbed. head 1 of cork or other suitable material in the 55 form of a cylinder having a hemispherical end and carrying near said end and below the center of the sphere a weight in the form of a lead ball 9. The vane I I is a thin, flexible, seamlessjointless member of homogeneous colloidal material of generally conical shape having the head attached thereto and having near its larger end a plurality of comparatively large equally spaced flight-controlling holes I3. In order to strengthen the shuttle and to facilitate its manufactiue, the thin seamless, jointless member, of which the vane I I is a part, has integral with it a sheath or socket III which fits about and firmly holds the head I. For convenience of description, the shuttle will be considered as occupying its upright position, and it will be noted that the holes are located in the upper or larger half of the Vane, that is in that part of the vane above a plane AA perpendicular to the axis of the shuttle-and located halfway between the top of the cork head I and the upper, larger end of the vane.

The vane II of the shuttle of Fig. 1 is provided with fourlarge equally spaced holes I3 each having a diameter of about one inch. The

vane I5 of the shuttle of Fig. 2 is provided with two rows of equally spaced holes I5 each having a diameter of about three-eighths of an inch, all located in the upper half of the vane above the plane B'B. Assuming that the sum of the areas of the holes is the same in any given cases,

I have found that in general the bigger the individual holes the shorter is the distance and the steadier'is the flight of the shuttle so that by increasing or decreasing the size of the individual holes the flight characteristics of the shuttle may be predetermined and varied, and shuttles of different pace, that is, fast, medium or slow, may be provided. There is, of course, a limit to the amount of material which can be removed from the vanethat is to the aggregate area of the holes'without objectionally weakening the vane; and there is also a minimum limit to the size of the individual holes since they should be large enough so that they permit a one-quarter of an inch. The aggregate area of the holes should be substantial, being in the case of the shuttle of Fig. 1 about 28% andin the case of the shuttle of Fig. 2 about 24% of the area of the upper half of the vane, these shuttlesbeing of medium size and weight, and their ex act dimensions appearing in Fig. 6.

Ithas been stated that the holes, whatever their'size, are located in the upper half of the vane. The'shuttle will fly satisfactorily if additional holes are provided in the lower half of the vane, since holes so located have little appreciable drag effect.- Such holes, however, weaken the vane in a locality wherestrength is particularly desirable and necessary to withstand the shock of hard blows.

In order to provide a surface upon which the racquet will not slip 'when the shuttleZ-is struck, particularly by a glancing or cut shot, there is provided a cover ll of rubber, or a cover of felt I8 (Fig. 2) cemented in place. In Fig. 3 there is shown a cover of solid rubber provided with perforations 2B in its upper part. A cover of this sort requires no weight such as that shown at 9 since the perforations are so located as to concentratethe weight of the cover somewhat in its lower end. In'F'ig. 4 there is shown a cover of sponge rubber 22, and here again the separate weight 9 may be dispensed with by choosing sponge rubber 22 of the proper density.

The shuttle of this invention may conveniently be made by the use of a frusto-conical mold or form 2| such as is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The head I, the diameter of the cylindrical portion of which is substantially the same as that of the top of the mold, is placed on said top as shown. There is provided a suitably shaped blank I00 of colloidal material in swollen shrinkable form such as a hydrated ester of cellulose which may contain, if desired, fillers, plasticizers, coloring dyes, pigments, etc., to improve its appearanceor physical qualities. This blank is placed over the mold and head and allowed to shrink into a hard, tough, flexible and resilient film to form the combined vane II and socket or sheath III of the shuttle of Fig. 1 or the vane I5 and socket or sheath (not shown) of the shuttle of Fig. 2, the head being thus very firmly attached to this member. The projecting portion of the blank is trimmed oh flush with the base of the mold, and a fluid may be forced into the passageway 23, if desired, to facilitate the removal of the article from the mold. A cover such as one of those shown in Figs. 1 to 4 may be cemented in place and the holes made in the vane.

In other to strengthen the edges of the holes, if desired, a, construction such as that shown in Figs. 1 and 7 or that shown in Fig. 8 may be employed. According to the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 7 the margins around the holes are bent through approximately 180 as indicated at 21, thus thickening the-edges of the holes. According to the construction shown in Fig. 8 the margins-around the holes are bent through less than 180 as. indicated at 29. This bending, it should be understood, may take place inwardly or outwardly, and will preferably take place outwardly in the construction shown in Fig. 8. In both cases the depth of the holes is greater than the thickness of the body portion of the vane, and the edges of the' holes are strengthened. The upper edge of the vane may also be similarly thickened and strengthened, for example as shown best in Fig. 7 at 25, by bend-'- ing the margin inwardly.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that my invention provides a shuttle that is simple, easily manufactured, and particularly one the construction and material of which gives strength and durability. More important still, there is attained uniformity of weight, balance and symmetry which, with the aerodynamic design of vane, provides a shuttle of predetermined and excellent flight characteristics.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. -A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising head and vane portions,.said vane portion consisting of a thin seamless, jointless gen-- erally conical member of homogeneous colloidal material provided in its upper half with draginducing holes of substantial aggregate area whereby the distance of flight of the shuttle is limited and the direction of its flight stabilized.

2. A shuttle for the gameof badminton comprising head and vaneportions, said vane portion consisting of a thin seamless, jointless generally conical member homogeneous throughout having distributed in its upper half a plurality of flight-controlling holes of substantial aggregate area.

3. A shuttle dot the game of badminton comprising a head and a vane attached to the head, said vane consisting of a thin seamless generally conical member homogeneous throughout having in its upper half a plurality of flight-controlling holes, said vane having integral with it a socket to receive and firmly hold the head.

4. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising a head and a thin seamless member of colloidal material, said member including a portion shrunken over and firmly holding the'head and a generally conical vane having in its upper half a plurality of flight-controlling holes.

5. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising a head in the form of a cylinder having a rounded end, and a hollow seamless, jointless member of colloidal material, a portion of said member fitting about and attached to the sides and rounded end of the head, and the remainder of said member being of generally conical shape and having in its upper half a plurality of flightcontrolling holes. a

6. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising a head in the form of a cylinder having a rounded end, and a hollow seamless, jointless member of colloidal material, a portion of said member fitting about and attached to the sides and rounded end of the head, and the remainder of said member being of generally conical shape and having in its upper half a row of substantially equally-spaced flight-controlling holes extending around itscircumference.

'7. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising head and vane portions, said vane portion consisting of a thin seamless, jointless generally conical member of homogeneous colloidal material provided in its upper half with draginducing holes, the depth of the holes being greater than the thickness of the body portion of the vane.

8. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising head and vane portions, said vane portion consisting of a thin seamless, jointless generally conical member of homogeneous colloidal material provided in its upper half with draginducing holes, the thickness of the vane in a narrow area around the holes being greater than the thickness of the body portion of the vane.-

9. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising a head, a thin seamless, jointless member comprising a socket in which the head is received and to which the head-is attached and a generally conical vane having flight-controlling holes in its upper half, and a cover of relatively soft resilient material attached to the outer wall of the socket in which the head is received;

10. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising a head, a thin seamless, jointless member comprising a socket in which the head is received and to which the head is attached and a generally conical vane having flight-controlling holes in its upper half, and a rubber cover attached to the outer wall of the socket in which the head is received. 7

11. A shuttle for the game of badminton comprising a head, a thin seamless, jointless member comprising a socket in which the head is received and to which the head is attached and a generally conical vane having flight-controlling holes in its upper half, and a fabric cover attached to the outer wall of the socket in which the head is received.

ALEXIS E. USHAKOFF. 

